Croatia Celebrates Anniversary of ‘Storm’ Victory; Serbia Mourns Victims

Croatia's political leadership, wartime generals and war veterans gathered on Thursday in the town of Knin to mark the anniversary of the victorious military offensive, Operation Storm, that practically ended the independence war in the country in 1995.

Part of the ceremony took place at the Knin Fortress, while another part was held at the town's football stadium.

In a speech, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic praised the "victorious" Croatian army and police for "ending the war and establishing lasting peace". President Zoran Milanovic recalled Storm as "one of the boldest ventures in Croatian history".

During the operation, Croatian forces regained almost all the territory seized in 1991 by rebel Croatian Serbs, helped by the Yugoslav People's Army and Serbian paramilitaries.

But around 200,000 Serbs fled Croatia in a long convoy of tractors, buses and cars, and 677 civilians were killed during and after the operation, according to the Croatian Helsinki Committee.

While Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic from the Independent Democratic Serb Party, which represents Croatia's Serb minority, attended the state celebration of Operation Storm last year, he announced earlier that he will skip the ceremony this year.

He pointed out that not all government officials will attend the ceremony and that the fact that he will not be present does not mean giving up on reconciliation between Croats and Serbs.

Also last year, top state officials joined representatives of the Serb minority in commemoration of the anniversary of a massacre in the hamlet of Grubori and in the village of Varivode - two of several violent incidents in the wake of Operation Storm.

Plenkovic stated that symbolic gestures expressed at last year...